The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

"The next instalment can't come soon enough."

"I think this one might be the actual best of the franchise and it's all because of the Ents."

"What Jackson's storytelling lacks in coherency... he makes up for with a new-found sense of urgency and a richer blend of drama, humour and human emotion."

"An army of filmmakers led by the director, Peter Jackson, has made the trilogy's central section a ringing testament to the power of motion pictures."

"Part Two is easily as exciting, involving and visually inventive as Part One."

"There is no letdown, no scrimping on spectacle, no dawdling over exposition."

"Unless you're up to speed on the story so far, part two of Tolkien's trilogy could be a baffling experience."

"In size and scale, Jackson has redefined the word 'epic' - but his attention to the small things really gives this series its awesome stature."

"A thrilling work of film craft."

"The Two Towers is both a triumph of design and cinematic engineering and, at the same time, long, repetitious and naive."

"An amazing feat of imagination."

"A few sloggy spots aside, The Two Towers is an outstanding effort that maintains the integrity and purpose that distinguished The Fellowship of the Ring."

"Peter Jackson, in the second instalment of his Lord of the Rings trilogy, has confounded expectations and crafted a film that's both livelier and darker than the first one."

"Gollum is the first believable CG character, while the battle of Helm's Deep is one of the finest, most expansive combat sequences ever filmed."

"As with the first film, this one also leaves you wanting hours more once those end credits begin flashing across the screen."

"A visual pageant of sorcery and action, all but surpasses The Fellowship of the Ring."

"A very watchable, distinctive, if over-extended FX spectacular. Nothing more."

"Jackson has steered the story into the action mainstream. To do what he has done in this film must have been awesomely difficult, and he deserves applause, but to remain true to Tolkien would have been more difficult, and braver."

"What strikes one more than anything in Towers is the material's dreamlike quality, from Frodo falling into the Dead Marshes and the way Gollum slithers on all fours to the massive black gates of Mordor and Gandalf's climactic charge on Shadowfax — the lord of all horses — down a very steep hill."

"The Two Towers, shot at the same time as Part I and Part III, is spectacular in every sense of the word, even if you don’ t know an Orc from a Uruk-Hai."

"With all three “Rings” episodes filmed back to back in one monstrous 15-month shoot, “Towers” easily lives up to and frequently exceeds the high technical standards set by the first film."